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Infection and Immunity, November 2007, p. 5500-5508, Vol. 75, No. 11
0019-9567/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/IAI.00551-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai 400 005, India,1 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Malaria Research Institute, Baltimore, Maryland2
Received 17 April 2007/ Returned for modification 20 June 2007/ Accepted 15 August 2007
The enolase protein of the human malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum has recently been characterized. Apart from its glycolytic function, enolase has also been shown to possess antigenic properties and to be present on the cell wall of certain invasive organisms, such as Candida albicans. In order to assess whether enolase of P. falciparum is also antigenic, sera from residents of a region of Eastern India where malaria is endemic were tested against the recombinant P. falciparum enolase (r-Pfen) protein. About 96% of immune adult sera samples reacted with r-Pfen over and above the seronegative controls. Rabbit anti-r-Pfen antibodies inhibited the growth of in vitro cultures of P. falciparum. Mice immunized with r-Pfen showed protection against a challenge with the 17XL lethal strain of the mouse malarial parasite Plasmodium yoelii. The antibodies raised against r-Pfen were specific for Plasmodium and did not react to the host tissues. Immunofluorescence as well as electron microscopic examinations revealed localization of the enolase protein on the merozoite cell surface. These observations establish malaria enolase to be a potential protective antigen.
Published ahead of print on 4 September 2007.
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